Every year, roughly 400 million skiers and snowboarders take to slopes around the world to experience the thrilling adrenaline rush of these most popular winter sports. Staying in one of two thousand of the worlds’ bustling resorts, they speed down the same slopes again and again, and slowly drift up hills on creaking ski lifts. While enjoyable to the average holidaymaker, for the more adventurous affluent traveller, there is much more to an adventure holiday than this. Instead of skiing down the same slopes millions of others have experienced, imagine pristine white descents with stunning views from the towering Andes. Instead of creaking ski lifts, think high speed helicopters whizzing you to your smooth slope of choice in minutes. With Black Tomato travels’ more adventure seeking branch, Epic Tomato, you can experience exactly this and so much more in their carefully crafted, adrenaline boosting winter challenge set in Chile’s most awe-inspiring landscapes.

Unlike other predictable skiing holidays, Epic Tomato’s trip to Chile challenges you like never before. Journeying to the Atacama Desert, The Andes and Chilean Patagonia, you will push yourself in breath-taking new ways from sand-boarding down step desert dunes and trekking the infamous Torres del Paine, to jumping out of a helicopter for heli-skiing down the fresh white slopes of the Andes. This adventure is packed full of contrasts, as you whiz from snow-capped mountains to the driest desert in the world and learn about the fascinating history of South America amidst your high-speed activities. Not for the faint hearted, Epic Chile will enthral you in the history, geography and rich culture of Chile in a way that few travellers have done before.

Your adventure begins when you land at Calama Airport and are transferred to Hotel Awasi, located in the idyllic, low roofed trading town of San Pedro de Atacama. In 1540, Pedro de Valdivia marched his troops across the Atacama Desert, travelling south from Peru to found the city of Santiago in 1541. Five centuries on, and the same views of the towering sandy mountains that the conquering Spanish army trekked past can be seen from the solitude of your luxurious hotel lodge.

Protecting 340 hectares of native woodland in Iguazu and Patagonia, this one-hundred-percent carbon neutral hotel’s name means ‘home’, and this is evident in every aspect of the place. With its luxurious pool, open-air communal areas furnished with vibrantly coloured cushions, and impressive Relais & Chateaux restaurant, it’s the perfect place to unwind after soaking in the immaculate views of the world’s driest desert.

Heading into the desert, you get the opportunity to traverse the sand dunes, majestic salt lakes and vast mountains that stretch for miles around. Led by an expert guide, you gain a respect for the mountains on intrepid hikes with unbeatable views of the jagged Domeyko Range and absorb the history of the ruins of the Atacamenian settlements dating all the way back back to 800BC. Of course, an Epic Tomato desert adventure holiday wouldn’t be complete without an adrenaline rush, and you’ll receive just this as you go desert sandboarding down the smooth slopes of sand. Having experienced the heat of Atacama, Black Tomato Travel whisks you off to ski in Chile upon the icy caps of the Andes, home of heli-skiing.

Rob Murray-John, travel expert, describes heli-skiing as the most challenging yet most rewarding experience of this incredible trip. Spending your nights at the luxurious Puma Lodge, you’ll awake to freshly powdered slopes, which you can fly to as many times as your heart desires by helicopter. Being the first people to make tracks in the virgin snow is the most rewarding feeling – you’re like a pioneer traversing undiscovered territory at breath-taking speeds. As you glide down the slopes of volcanos and mountain summits, you’re aware of the exhilarating difference between this and your typical ski holiday, where hundreds of skiers slide down the same old slopes, over and over again. This is something fresh, and the exhilaration that heli-skiing provides means that you gain a whole new respect for the mountains.

For the final leg of the journey, you head to the Torres del Paine in Chilean Patagonia, where clouds rest on the sharp peaks of the blue-grey mountains. Led by an experienced guide, you hike to a lookout at the base of the awe-inspiring granite Paine towers. 754 meters up, you are given unobstructed views of the orange and green hues of the national park, where animals such as the Guanaco and South American Grey fox roam among delicate flora and fauna. Having taken in these views, you have one last challenge to hike to the Paine River and reflective turquoise waters of Lake Pehoé. Looking out over the magnificent ice barrier of the Southern ice fields is enough to raise goose-bumps on anyone’s arms in total admiration at the vastness of nature they are experiencing.

It’s not often we get to escape our everyday work lives for a skiing adventure, so why not make your next trip something special? If you’d like to challenge yourself further than just your typical track-covered slopes, then heli-skiing down the mountains of Chile will bring a whole new excitement to winter sports, as well as a deep appreciation for the differing landscapes of this stunning country. Epic Tomato will provide you with stories that will last a lifetime, so that when people ask what it was like to ski-in Chile, you’ll also be wowing them with your experiences of sand boarding, extreme hiking and pictures of views they could only dream of from their all-inclusive chalet.

Article written by Faith Eden